I definitely agree with this assessment of the balls. I only played with Australian Open balls once at an NTRP tournament but they were all dead out of the can, so I can't make a good evaluation of them. Roland Garros and Slazenger are just middle of the road tennis balls. The US Opens on a gritty hard court fluff up way too quickly. At least in the pros, they can change balls every 9 games. In a long 3 set NTRP tournament, maybe you have to play with them for 30 games. Nadal has said in the past he does not like the US Open ball because it does not accentuate his spin.

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The penn atp balls have the most bounce out of all of those balls. Played with them on an outside court during the rogers cup a few year ago and they take topspin really well. No wonder nadal won that year...

It seems that fewer teenagers are making an early breakthrough on the main tour (compared to eras such as the 80s). Do you think this trend will lead to a different career path developing, for instance more players going to college / university and then turning pro in their early 20s?

Did you ever consider the college route yourself (and if so, at what point did you decide you were good enough to go pro instead)?

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I don't know, I really don't think that will make a huge difference. It will just mean that you won't have a lot of guys breaking through too early.

College was always a back-up option. I decided at an early age that I wanted to go pro.

Hi Felipe, best of luck on your Mexican tour and breaking into the pros!!! Where do you think the canada-Spain Davis cup tie will take place and will you be a part of the team again? We managed to get to the games in Montreal and Vancouver this year and hope to make it in Feb as well. Great thread!!

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I have no idea, I haven't really heard any news on that matter. We'll see soon enough.

What is your typical training session like? Do you lift heavy weights to improve strength, or just spend most of the time on the court?

I think it's a good idea to get motivated in the gym with heavy weights, especially on your legs and abdominal. It will improve your overall athleticism greatly.

Also let me know if you ever come to Seattle.

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I do everything really, just depends what we are focusing on. An average day would be 3-4 hours of training and 1.5-3 hours of fitness, which includes core, weights, or running, or a combination of everything.

The penn atp balls have the most bounce out of all of those balls. Played with them on an outside court during the rogers cup a few year ago and they take topspin really well. No wonder nadal won that year...

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Those do bounce nicely. Nadal would win everything on the planet with Prince balls though. They bounce the highest.

It’s been a few days since my last blog post as I’ve had a pretty hectic weekend. Here’s what happened:
On Saturday, I lost my semifinal match 6-7 2-6 against Chris Wettengel of the USA. It is almost unheard of for professional players to make it on tour when starting tennis after age 10, but Chris only started playing tennis at age 15 and is still touring at age 30. It’s pretty impressive that he is playing at this level right now and he had a great run this week, making it all the way to the final before losing a tight three set match.
Even though making the semis is a good result, I was not entirely happy with the way I played. On Saturday, I felt a tiny bit slow to the ball and made too many errors going for the wrong shots at the wrong moments. Technically, I was reaping the benefits of the work that my coach and I did back in Montreal, as I felt good about the amount of power I was able to generate. However tennis is a game of errors, and I simply missed too many shots during the match, which is extremely disappointing. However there are some positives to take out of the match. I was hitting the ball with good pace and each match under my belt is allowing me to get into a better rhythm. With a week’s worth of practice and matches behind me, I’ll be able to make an impact at the next two tournaments on this trip by working on tactics and playing smarter tennis.
My coach Jocelyn felt like I was a little bit slow out on the court Saturday, so he gave me a day and a half off. On Sunday, we went down to the beach in Cancun to relax, suntan (I got burnt a little bit…) and jet-ski. The fun day was capped off with delicious fresh fish tacos. Unfortunately I left my phone back at the hotel, so I couldn’t take any pictures of the great food. Maybe next time. The only photographic evidence from that day is a terrible picture of me and my tan lines, frolicking in the water.

At 6:30AM this morning, we checked out of the hotel in Cancun and took a bus to Merida, site of the Mexican National Tennis Center and the location of our next tournament. Instead of staying at a hotel, we will be sleeping in the dorms adjacent to the tennis center. A few moments ago, I just met my roommate for the week. His name is Alvaro Zaragoza and he’s fifteen years old, or half of Chris’ age! At 18 there aren’t that many players in the draw younger than I am, but Alvaro (who lost in the qualifying round) is one of the only exceptions. Who knows, maybe in a couple of years, he’ll be the one winning junior grand slams!

If you take a look at the draw at Merida (http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/men’s-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100027596), you’ll see a lot of the same names from last week. You may think it’s somewhat weird, being in the locker room on back-to-back weeks, but it’s actually a good thing. You go into your matches knowing what to expect, and there is more of a sense of community around the tennis club since you already know most of the guys from the previous tournament.

Anyway, it’s time to call it a night. My first match is tomorrow morning at 10AM against Charles Boyce, a qualifier from the US.

It’s been a bit of a mixed bag today. In the morning, I won my opening singles match 7-6 7-5 against Charles Boyce of the USA. I started off the match strongly with an early service break, but made a few mistakes and went down set point at 4-5 30-40 before coming back with a big serve and taking the set in a tiebreak. In the second set, my game still wasn’t completely dialed in – I made some weird mistakes off of makeable shots, but played solid enough tactically to get a late break and wrap the match up in straight sets.

In the afternoon, I took to the court with my doubles partner Luis Patino (who you may have read about in a previous blog post) to play our first round match. That, unfortunately, did not go so well. We hadn’t played doubles together in a while and both of us usually favor playing on the Ad court. Obviously we couldn’t both play on the same side; that would make us look kind of stupid. So, right before the match, we decided that Luis will stick with the Ad court and that I would return from the Deuce court. The change threw me off quite a bit and, I must admit, I ended up playing a pretty bad match. Even though Luis played quite well and kept us in the game, our opponents ended up winning in straight sets, 3-6 4-6. Luis and I will be playing doubles together once again next week, and we’ve already decided that I’ll take the Ad court next time!

I mentioned last week that the weather was pretty hot in Cancun. Well, it’s even hotter here in Merida. The temperature was in the mid-thirties Celsius today, not taking into account the intense humidity of the Yucatan area. However, this is not the hottest conditions in which I’ve had to compete in. As a matter of fact, that record belongs neither to Mexico, nor to the city of Melbourne during the Australian Open, but to the town of Mississauga in Ontario, Canada! I once played a mid-summer tournament there where the match day temperature was a sizzling 45 degrees. That match went three sets and I ended up winning 7-6. Let’s say the cold post-game shower felt pretty good afterwards!

That’s about it for today; another day and another match tomorrow. Good night everyone!

You got another fan.
I appreciate the effort you make to answer some of the questions at TW and good luck in you future matches.
I'll be rooting for you.

I use to live in Vancouver and miss playing tennis there.
I hung out at the tennis courts at Stanley Park.
Good times.

Another question when you have chance, is about college offers.
I know you mention you prefer to take your game as a pro in the Futures and Challengers.
Can you comment on which colleges wanted to recruit you?
How does your parents feel you delaying college offers away at this time?

You got another fan.
I appreciate the effort you make to answer some of the questions at TW and good luck in you future matches.
I'll be rooting for you.

I use to live in Vancouver and miss playing tennis there.
I hung out at the tennis courts at Stanley Park.
Good times.

Another question when you have chance, is about college offers.
I know you mention you prefer to take your game as a pro in the Futures and Challengers.
Can you comment on which colleges wanted to recruit you?
How does your parents feel you delaying college offers away at this time?

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Examples may be a good way to illustrate this stage in a players development. At age eighteen James Blake and John Isner were really promising tennis players, but not at any level of International significance. They were both realistic: good enough to play at the highest levels of the collegiate game but not proven in (significant) International competition. A chance to have their education payed for was very hard to pass up indeed. To both players credit, they made the decision to pursue education while also having the opportunity to train with and against other really good players. This time was used wisely and both players gained (significant) skill increase during those years, to the point that they were able to enter the ATP and have success at that level. Neither player was physically or strategically capible of this kind of success at eighteen.

Players who have much more successful Junior careers have a different perspective because they've proven that they can put up results against International competition. Andy Roddick may be a good example: roughly the same age as James Blake, Roddick had already achieved International success at college age (#1 world junior ranking, U.S and Australian Open junior titles, multiple world junior titles, ETC) or Roger Federer (#1 world junior ranking, orange bowl tiltle, Wimbledon junior title, multiple world junior titles, ETC.) These guys, like Filip, had success at an International level and thus had financial and instructional support to move right into ATP International travel. This is where most players at this level need to be in order to optimise the level of results needed in order to achieve their potential as top ATP players.

You got another fan.
I appreciate the effort you make to answer some of the questions at TW and good luck in you future matches.
I'll be rooting for you.

I use to live in Vancouver and miss playing tennis there.
I hung out at the tennis courts at Stanley Park.
Good times.

Another question when you have chance, is about college offers.
I know you mention you prefer to take your game as a pro in the Futures and Challengers.
Can you comment on which colleges wanted to recruit you?
How does your parents feel you delaying college offers away at this time?

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I got offers from USC, Georgia, UCLA, most of the top schools.

My parents were quite serious about my school, but they support my decision to go pro, because they also believe I can be a very successful tennis player.

Examples may be a good way to illustrate this stage in a players development. At age eighteen James Blake and John Isner were really promising tennis players, but not at any level of International significance. They were both realistic: good enough to play at the highest levels of the collegiate game but not proven in (significant) International competition. A chance to have their education payed for was very hard to pass up indeed. To both players credit, they made the decision to pursue education while also having the opportunity to train with and against other really good players. This time was used wisely and both players gained (significant) skill increase during those years, to the point that they were able to enter the ATP and have success at that level. Neither player was physically or strategically capible of this kind of success at eighteen.

Players who have much more successful Junior careers have a different perspective because they've proven that they can put up results against International competition. Andy Roddick may be a good example: roughly the same age as James Blake, Roddick had already achieved International success at college age (#1 world junior ranking, U.S and Australian Open junior titles, multiple world junior titles, ETC) or Roger Federer (#1 world junior ranking, orange bowl tiltle, Wimbledon junior title, multiple world junior titles, ETC.) These guys, like Filip, had success at an International level and thus had financial and instructional support to move right into ATP International travel. This is where most players at this level need to be in order to optimise the level of results needed in order to achieve their potential as top ATP players.

Hi Filip, look this two guys are in your draw in Meridahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI_PKlbeHSg
This video is from last year in another futures,
the guy in red is Marcelo Arévalo and the one in
white is Christopher Diaz Figueroa.
I also saw Darian King ( not very powerful )from Barbados and
Miguel Gallardo from Mexico, he´s really good, kind
of a Ferrer from Futures, short , quick and a fighter.

Have fun in Merida, and try the local food , is exquisite =) ,just avoid anything
with habanero chile, it might be too advanced for a beginner on spicy food.

Your coach, a man, is named Jocelyn???? Interesting. When does the "regular season" end for you? I know tennis players don't have much of an off-season but I would think that lower-ranked and junior players would have a longer one than the top ranked players.

Your coach, a man, is named Jocelyn???? Interesting. When does the "regular season" end for you? I know tennis players don't have much of an off-season but I would think that lower-ranked and juior players would have a longer one than the top ranked players.

Good luck in your final tourney of '12 on the Mexican swing of Futures! I see you draw a Dutch 21-year-old (Griekspoor) who has played a ton of Futures events this year, including a nice recent run to SF/QFs in back-to-back events in Israel. He lost R1 last week in a third-set TB. Did you get a glimpse of his game or do you leave the scouting to your coach(es)?

I was scanning the draw for a Futures tourney being held over at NBTA, Bradenton this week. It's on clay (Har-Tru if I'm correct) so it's a great early chance to ready for the January Florida swing. Did your group consider it as an option when planning your schedule?

Back on topic...I know GPPD is not the right forum for a spoiler but Filip won his first round in 2 TB's and now faces the #3 seed from El Salvador (saw the score on a website I'm not allowed to reference).

Do we need a separate thread in PMR? I'll start one if all are interested!

Good luck in your final tourney of '12 on the Mexican swing of Futures! I see you draw a Dutch 21-year-old (Griekspoor) who has played a ton of Futures events this year, including a nice recent run to SF/QFs in back-to-back events in Israel. He lost R1 last week in a third-set TB. Did you get a glimpse of his game or do you leave the scouting to your coach(es)?

I was scanning the draw for a Futures tourney being held over at NBTA, Bradenton this week. It's on clay (Har-Tru if I'm correct) so it's a great early chance to ready for the January Florida swing. Did your group consider it as an option when planning your schedule?

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Sorry it took so long to reply, I've been at the club all day throughout this week. He was tough, but I managed to hold my own.

As far as the future in Bradenton, I will not be playing as this week is the last tournament I am playing this year.

Sorry it took so long to reply, I've been at the club all day throughout this week. He was tough, but I managed to hold my own.

As far as the future in Bradenton, I will not be playing as this week is the last tournament I am playing this year.

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Hi Filip,

first, thank you, that you devote some of your time to answer our questions.

I have a couple questions, regarding your offseason.

1. Do you do any training, that is specific (i.e. happens only during) to the offseason?

2. Do you do extended fitness sessions during the off season, and if so, what kind of exercises do you do and how many times a day? I am particularly interested, if you do any exercises, that are specifically aimed at strengthening particular muscles, in order to endure the hard season, and maybe some exercises, done as an injury prevention. Do you and your coach take note of what are the prevalent injuries amongst the top pros and try to take countermeasures, or you rely on your general fitness to take care of that?

3. Do you do any other sports in order to raise your fitness level and if "Yes" what exactly do you do (how many times a week, intensity etc)?

Last, but not least, I wish you to be healthy and have a nice time in your off season.

Strange question maybe, but do you consider your own game 'interesting'? If you try to look as an objective viewer, do you have a lot of variety? Do you use many different spins and speeds and stuff like that? Do you come in to the net, or stand way back, or take the ball real early? Do you S&V ever?

Relating to this issue: Do you see a lot of talented players coming to the net A LOT? Do you see any of them with a 1hbh doing well?

Sorry it took so long to reply, I've been at the club all day throughout this week. He was tough, but I managed to hold my own.

As far as the future in Bradenton, I will not be playing as this week is the last tournament I am playing this year.

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No apology required...carry on with your game before worrying about us!

Just to let you know...this thread is in the section where "spoilers" are not allowed so I started a thread in the "Pro Match Results" to report your scores. It will be a little more compact than this thread so you'll get in and out a bit easier too!

Sorry it took so long to reply, I've been at the club all day throughout this week. He was tough, but I managed to hold my own.

As far as the future in Bradenton, I will not be playing as this week is the last tournament I am playing this year.

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Good on you Filip. You need as much R&R as you can, then you can start
working your way up the ladder in ATP by early next year. Hope you have a break out year this 2013 and possibly break into top 100. God bless you mate

first, thank you, that you devote some of your time to answer our questions.

I have a couple questions, regarding your offseason.

1. Do you do any training, that is specific (i.e. happens only during) to the offseason?

2. Do you do extended fitness sessions during the off season, and if so, what kind of exercises do you do and how many times a day? I am particularly interested, if you do any exercises, that are specifically aimed at strengthening particular muscles, in order to endure the hard season, and maybe some exercises, done as an injury prevention. Do you and your coach take note of what are the prevalent injuries amongst the top pros and try to take countermeasures, or you rely on your general fitness to take care of that?

3. Do you do any other sports in order to raise your fitness level and if "Yes" what exactly do you do (how many times a week, intensity etc)?

Last, but not least, I wish you to be healthy and have a nice time in your off season.

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Well we generally do a lot more heavy weights during that period to bulk up and prepare for the next year, as well as a couple of things such as road biking for 80k or running an official 15k race (we did that during last year's offseason)

We generally start by doing mostly fitness and not a lot of tennis, and it really includes everything(weights, cardio, speed/agility, core strength/stability, and injury prevention exercises. It varies depending on what each player needs individually, and on what part of the training period we are in, but generally we will have at least one or two 1.5-2.5 hour sessions (more if its an 80k road bike)

As far as other sports, we usually play soccer, maybe once every week or two. Its very intense, as we are all extremely serious about winning these games

Strange question maybe, but do you consider your own game 'interesting'? If you try to look as an objective viewer, do you have a lot of variety? Do you use many different spins and speeds and stuff like that? Do you come in to the net, or stand way back, or take the ball real early? Do you S&V ever?

Relating to this issue: Do you see a lot of talented players coming to the net A LOT? Do you see any of them with a 1hbh doing well?

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I think my game would be quite interesting to watch. I take the ball really early, but I can mix it up and stay a bit further back and hit a heavy spin, to keep the guy off rhythm. I do try to get into the net when I have a short ball, but I don't serve and volley much, unless the guy is popping up high balls of his return. Its more of a surprise tactic that Ill use a few times in a match. As far as speed goes, I do try to mix it up a lot, since its easy to get a rhythm if someone gives you the same ball every time.

Good on you Filip. You need as much R&R as you can, then you can start
working your way up the ladder in ATP by early next year. Hope you have a break out year this 2013 and possibly break into top 100. God bless you mate

hello filip..that injury prevention stuff you tennis players do nowadays is a fairly new thing i think..do you have to do sort do stress test exercises to find out any weaknesses or an imbalance in the body..

tennis matches are tougher now..but most of the players manage to avoid serious injurys nowadays so it must be a good idea.

Well we generally do a lot more heavy weights during that period to bulk up and prepare for the next year, as well as a couple of things such as road biking for 80k or running an official 15k race (we did that during last year's offseason)

We generally start by doing mostly fitness and not a lot of tennis, and it really includes everything(weights, cardio, speed/agility, core strength/stability, and injury prevention exercises. It varies depending on what each player needs individually, and on what part of the training period we are in, but generally we will have at least one or two 1.5-2.5 hour sessions (more if its an 80k road bike)

As far as other sports, we usually play soccer, maybe once every week or two. Its very intense, as we are all extremely serious about winning these games

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Thank you for your answer!

Could you be more specific, what those injury prevention exercises are?

hello filip..that injury prevention stuff you tennis players do nowadays is a fairly new thing i think..do you have to do sort do stress test exercises to find out any weaknesses or an imbalance in the body..

tennis matches are tougher now..but most of the players manage to avoid serious injurys nowadays so it must be a good idea.

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Not really, we know what is weaker just through the training we do, and work to fix/balance it.

Thanks for all your updates from your various events, Filip! Just curious, do you carry a laptop or a tablet with you on the road and which one? Have you had problems anywhere getting wifi?

Maybe your business manager can hook you up with an endorsement in the future! You certainly have proof with these threads of how vital and useful your link to the world is when traveling.

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I always have a laptop with me, and recently got an iPad as a gift, so I might start travelling with that. I have trouble with WiFi a lot more than I would like, as many places have very bad signals or none at all. Quite a few places also make you pay for the networks they provide, sometimes reaching 15-20 dollars per day (needless to say I never buy it if it reaches that price)

It would be great to receive an endorsement in that regard, would help me tremendously.

Could you be more specific, what those injury prevention exercises are?

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It would be very difficult, nearly impossible to explain many of those exercises without physically demonstrating them. Most of them include rubber band/weight pulley machines for my shoulder, and core/back stability exercises.